Djibouti journalist detained for covering demonstration

Police arrested
Mohamed Ibrahim, a journalist for the pro-opposition news website and radio
station, La Voix de Djibouti
(The Voice of Djibouti), on December 12, 2013, while he was covering a protest
in the Balbala suburb of the capital, Djibouti City, according to local
journalists.

The demonstration was staged by women demanding land plots that
had been promised by the government after authorities demolished residences in
their neighborhood, the journalists said.

Mohamed was held 78 hours over the statutory maximum pre-trial custody of four days. Police initially
held Mohamed at the Fourth District Police Station in Balbala, then transferred
him to Central Gabode Prison a few days later, according to La Voix de Djibouti
Chief Editor Daher Ahmed. He was charged
with inciting a demonstration.

On December 19, 2013, a judge at the Court of
First Instances granted him bail and remanded the case to January 2, 2014, the
journalist's defense lawyer, Zakaria Ali Abdillahi, said.

Mohamed's case is
the latest in a long
list of harassments and detentions of journalists working for the critical
news website. On December 4, 2013, police detained and beat La Voix de Djibouti
journalists Abdourahman Houssein and Sadam Ainan while they were covering a
police raid on market stall vendors in the Maka Moukarama Market, according to
local journalists.